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Is  the  Church 
Opposed  to  m) 
Workingmen  i 


By 

CHARLES  STELZLE 


Department  of  Church  and  Labor, 
the  Board  of  Home  Missions  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A. 
153  La  Salle  Street  ::  ::  Chicago 


Is  the  Church  Opposed 
to  Workingmen  ? 


i  (  HE  Church  has  always  been 

I  against  the  workingman,” 
JL  so  some  labor  leaders  are 
_  wont  to  say. 

But,  in  the  first  place,  its  founder, 
Jesus  Christ,  was  not  against  working¬ 
men.  Never  were  more  sympathetic 
words  spoken  to  the  “common  people” 
■than  were  uttered  by  Jesus  Christ.  We 
are  told  that  “the  common  people  heard 
him  gladly.”  He  himself  was  a  carpen¬ 
ter  and  he  must  necessarily  have  had  a 
workingman’s  sympathies.  He  constant¬ 
ly  rebuked  the  oppressors  of  the  poor. 
The  men  whom  he  selected  as  his  dis¬ 
ciples  and  who  were  the  first  promoters 
•of  the  Church  were  workingmen.  Dur¬ 
ing  the  first  centuries  of  its  history, 
the  Church  received  its  strongest  sup¬ 
port  from  the  great  labor  guilds  of  that 
period— the  labor  unions,  we  would  now 
call  them— and  it  is  not  impossible  that 
Jesus  himself  was  a  member  of  the  Car¬ 
penters’  Guild  in  Nazareth. 

The  prophets  of  the  Church  were  not 
•opposed  to  workingmen.  The  strongest 
indictments  of  the  labor  agitator  against 


society  today  are  chosen  from  the  say¬ 
ings  of  the  prophets  as  they  are  recorded 
in  the  Scriptures.  These  quotations  are 
given  to  us  by  labor  leaders,  some  of 
whom,  at  least,  are  not  themselves  pro¬ 
fessing  Christians,  and  it  is  a  testimony 
to  the  fact  just  stated. 

The  Text-book  of  the  Church  is  not 
opposed  to  workingmen.  The  principles 
laid  down  by  its  writers  would  solve 
the  social  question  if  faithfully  lived  out 
by  both  the  capitalist  and  the  laborer. 
Hardly  a  book  treating  on  political 
economy  which  was  used  in  any  univer¬ 
sity  ten  years  ago  but  is  out  of  date  to¬ 
day.  The  Bible  is  the  only  book  always 
up-to-date. 

up-to-date.  It  comes  from  God,  and  it 
is  the  only  text-book  which  the  Church 
officially  recognizes. 

The  leaders  in  the  great  religious 
movements  in  history  were  not  opposed 
to  workingmen.  Indeed,  most  of  them 
were  workingmen  themselves.  The 
great  religious  movements  had  their 
origin  among  the  common  people.  They 
were  fought  for  by  workingmen,  of 
whom  thousands  upon  thousands  shed 
their  blood  because  they  believed  in  the 
great  principles  involved. 

The  preachers  of  to-day  are  not  op¬ 
posed  to  workingmen.  Many  of  them 
could  be  named  who  fearlessly  denounce 
the  sins  of  the  rich  as  well  as  the  sins 
of  the  poor. 


The  ministers’  associations  are  not  op¬ 
posed  to  workingmen.  I  have  addressed 
many  of  them  in  this  country  and  have 
never  yet  found  an  organization  but  has 
been  systematic  towards  workingmen. 
Furthermore,  that  the  Presbyterian 
Church  has  established  in  the  interest 
of  workingmen  a  special  department 
having  for  one  of  its  objects  the  careful 
investigation  of  social  questions  as  they 
have  to  do  with  the  Church,  indicates 
that  this  Church  is  not  opposed  to  work¬ 
ingmen.  What  better  evidence  can  be 
desired  that  the  cause  of  the  working¬ 
men  is  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  Church? 


Leaflets  by  Charles  Stelzle. 

The  Presbyterian  Church  and  Working¬ 
men. 

Class  Spirit  in  America. 

Is  the  Church  Opposed  to  Workingmen? 

Jesus  Christ  and  Rich  Men. 

Has  the  Minister  a  “Closed  Shop”  ? 

Labor  Leaders  in  the  Church. 

One  Pastor,  One  Church,  One  Year  and 
One  Hundred  Dollars. 

(An  Experience  in  Institutional  Church  Work.) 

The  Organization  of  an  Anti-Poverty 
Society. 

The  Relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Labor 
Movement. 

A  Letter  to  Ministerial  Fraternal  Dele¬ 
gates. 

Not  Missions  hut  Churches  for  Working¬ 
men. 


Sent  Free  on  Application. 


No.  208.  B.  123d  Thousand,  8,  ’05 


«T»»0£sl*-^Tc:0.r,C  L-  134 


